Spike in violence yields two bodies, three barrels

Drums may hold dissolved remains

TIJUANA
Authorities are investigating the deaths of two men whose bodies were found near a Tijuana water-utility tank early yesterday and whether human remains may be inside three barrels found outside a restaurant.

The two corpses were found with their heads wrapped in tape on an empty lot in a southwestern area of the city, the Baja California Attorney General's Office said.

Miles away, specialists in the handling of toxic materials with the Tijuana Fire Department were called to remove three tall, blue barrels – one of them turned over – left outside a seafood restaurant called Mariscos del Pacifico.

A sign on one of the barrels suggested they contained human remains, and warned of a similar fate for “The Engineer” and the people who “hang out with The Engineer.” The Engineer is a nickname for Fernando Sánchez Arellano, the head of the once-powerful Arellano Félix cartel.

A source in the U.S. government said the restaurant belongs to Eduardo González Tostado, a Mexican citizen who was kidnapped in Chula Vista last year by a group known as Los Palillos. U.S. agents rescued him after his family paid a $200,000 ransom.

U.S. prosecutors said that the group targeted members of the Arellano Félix drug cartel, but González has denied any cartel involvement.

The Fire Department specialists were called because authorities assumed the barrels contained acid or some other toxic liquid. Drug cartels are said to occasionally use acid to dissolve bodies.

Yesterday's discoveries come amid a spike in violence in Tijuana, much of it linked by authorities to organized crime. On Monday, 16 bodies were found in two parts of the city.

Law enforcement officials are attributing the rise in violence to a feud between criminal groups in the region. Violence has shaken Tijuana and other Mexican cities as the federal government has stepped up its fight against drug traffickers.